Torrey Pines Follows the Script to Perfection With 84-56 Victory

The people at Torrey Pines High School might want to start inserting checklists into the basketball programs for easy reference, because following the Falcons is pretty standard stuff so far.

Take Tuesday night’s Lt. Mitchell basketball tournament championship game against Las Vegas at San Dieguito High, for instance.

A Torrey Pines victory? Check. The Falcons are 10-0.

Another good game by senior standouts Courtie Miller and Kevin Flanagan? Check. Flanagan was the tournament’s most valuable player.

Did the Falcons win by 30 points, their average winning margin in 1988? No check. The final score was 84-56. They slid by with a 28-point victory.

For a game that was supposed to present Torrey Pines with its first stiff test of the season (Las Vegas was 7-1 entering the game), it looked suspiciously easy.

The Falcons turned a 23-14 first-quarter lead into a 45-30 halftime lead and were never seriously threatened. Flanagan, who had 20 points and 6 rebounds at halftime, finished with 33 points (11-of-15 shooting) and 15 rebounds. Miller had 26 points--19 in the second half--and 11 rebounds.

And that was the inside game. The Torrey Pines guards, playing against a full-court man-to-man press the entire game, directed the offense superbly. Darren Cox had 16 points and guard Kyle Armstrong had 9 assists.

Torrey Pines shot 31 of 45 from the floor.

Before the game, Las Vegas Coach Mel Washington said, “If they’re the No. 1 team in San Diego, we want to see if they can run.”

Torrey Pines didn’t oblige.

While Las Vegas continually pushed the ball up the court, throwing up off-balance shots, Torrey Pines played a deliberate game, setting up the offense and making crisp passes. As a result, the middle opened often for Flanagan and Miller.

“We really played well tonight,” Torrey Pines Coach John Farrell said. “We like to run, but we knew they had to change the tempo against Las Vegas. We didn’t run a lot tonight because we thought it would be to our advantage to work it inside. We do whatever it takes to win.”